100 Themes Kakairu
by Sunlight through Leaves
Summary: As the title says - this is a 100 themes challenge centering around the Kakairu pairing.
1. Introduction

I've started a 100 Themes challenge (what am I thinking?!), mainly because I seriously need to improve my one-shot writing abilities. I'm writing two in parallel - a Kakairu and a KuroFai one, check them both out!

This is the Kakairu one. Just so you're not surprised. ^^

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1. Introduction

_The trees whipped back and forth as he sprinted through the woods, laughing. He could hear the irritated shouts of his sensei, but ignored them – the man should have known better than to give his class free reign in one of the training areas, especially since said class included Umino Iruka._

_His foot caught on a half-buried obstacle, and he sprawled out onto the crackling leaves. Iruka gently prodded the side of his head, which had smacked sharply against the ground, "Itai…"_

_The offending hazard had skipped along the ground next to him when he'd tripped on it. Sunlight glinted off the pure-white porcelain of an Anbu mask, and Iruka stretched an arm towards it, marveling at how only a few red lines could so clearly denote the features of a dog, but as his fingers brushed the curved edge, a kunai buried itself up to its hilt in the soft dirt beside him._

_Iruka yelped and drew back in surprise, dusting the dirt that had sprayed up from the force of the impact out of his face. "Oi!" He shouted at the forest in general, not really sure where the attack had originated from. A presence appeared behind him, but before he could turn around, a band of cloth slipped over his eyes, he was dragged backwards until he was flush up against a tree, and his hands were bound tightly. "Oi!" He repeated, more in protest this time, "Who are you?!"_

"_Oh, please," The voice was annoyingly condescending, "You look like you're old enough to be at the academy, you should know that Anbu aren't allowed to reveal their faces." In the long pause that followed, it was clear that the other boy – Iruka was sure of that – moved away from him in the direction of the mask. "Or their names."_

_His sensei founded Iruka much later, still blindfolded and tied to a tree, shouting insults at the empty clearing._

Kakashi chuckled suddenly.

Iruka sighed, debating about whether to fall into the trap or just continue working. "What?"

"Maaa, I was just thinking…. You were such a snot when you were younger."

"Excuse me?"

"Seriously, some of those names you called me, I really don't think you should have known them at your age." Kakashi turned slightly, brandishing the dog-faced mask that he'd just rescued out of a box of stuff shoved into the corner of his apartment.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading! Thoughts? Love? Hate? Review!


	2. Love

He slipped over the frost-covered roofs, shivering slightly. The night sky was completely cloudless, and the temperatures had plummeted once the sun when down.

Luckily, he wouldn't be outside for much longer.

The wood creaked softly under his feet as he padded down the hallway, sandals in one hand. He stopped long enough to peel off his vest and shirt and drop them onto the floor before lifting the covers and nestling into the soft mattress.

He grinned hugely when Iruka shrieked as he flattened his hands on the other man's bare stomach and wrapped his feet around the toned calf.

"Kakashi!" Iruka squirmed frantically, trying to get himself free from the popsicle of a man who was pressing every inch of frozen skin up to his body.

"You are soooo nice and warm." Kakashi murmured into the side of Iruka's neck.

Iruka twisted around for a few more minutes before realizing that he just wasn't going to win this battle. Even in the dark, Kakashi could tell that the chuunin was pouting as he settled down against his chest. "You're lucky I love you."

OOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	3. Light

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto was already running towards him by the time he turned around.

"Morning Naruto," Kakashi's eye folded upwards into a smile, before transferring his attention to the man who was following Naruto at a much more sedate pace. "Iruka-san."

The chuunin smiled back at him over Naruto's head.

"Kakashi-sensei, that's not the way to greet someone!" Naruto snapped at him.

"Eh? Really?" Kakashi couldn't help but tease, certain that Naruto was taking his curtness with the other man for animosity.

"Ahha, Kakashi-san," Iruka slipped between the two of them, holding his hands up, "Naruto-kun, it's not that important." Naruto spun around, his mouth flying open, but Iruka cut him off. "We're headed to Ichiraku. Would you like to join us?"

Kakashi rested his chin on his hand and watched as Naruto attacked his fifteenth bowl of ramen.

"You should pay, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto slurped down noodles around his words. "You make more money than Iruka-sensei."

"Maaa, fine, fine." He dug around in his pocket for a minute.

"Nani?" Naruto glared up at him, "Kakashi-sensei, are you going to give us some bogus excuse about not having any money, are you?"

Kakashi was twisted in his seat, fishing around in his weapon pouch with a very puzzled look on his face. "Where the heck is my wallet."

"Oh," Iruka straightened up, "It's on the table by my bed. I meant to tell you…."

Naruto's head swiveled between the two so fast that, in retrospect, Kakashi was amazed the boy didn't fall off the stool.

Iruka clamped his mouth shut, staring fixedly at the bowl of ramen in front of him.

"Your…bed…? Why would Kakashi-sensei's wallet be…." Kakashi could practically see the lightbulb flicker in the air above Naruto's head.

OOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	4. Dark

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura held one of the kunai he'd leant them at arms length. "These kunai look awfully nice…" The long tapered blades were perfectly balanced, and ornamented by a pale blue stone inlaid into the handle. "Do you really think we should be using them for this?"

'This' was a training session where his students were learning how to channel chakra through ordinary kunai. The goal was to escape a liquid trap using the techniques he was teaching.

After several hours of watching his team slip around in the sticky muck that the liquid trap had created, Kakashi sent his team home and gathered up the weapons he'd let them borrow.

The minute the blades touched each other, the whole bundle started to smoke in his hands.

_He's gonna kill me. _Kakashi dropped his head onto the cool stone counter and banged it repeatedly. Three of the four blades were literally melted together – he really should have read the warning label on that stuff before borrowing it from the hospital, but he just couldn't believe that they would stock something that could dissolve solid metal.

"I'm back."

Kakashi bit back a yelp and shoved the kunai behind him. "Welcome home, Iruka!"

The chuunin toed off his shoes by the door and dropped his bag of papers onto the floor. He pulled the fridge open and fished out the half-drunk bottle of milk.

Kakashi shuffled slightly, but didn't move when Iruka reached over his shoulder to grab a glass out of one of the higher cabinets. The chuunin rolled his eyes. "Kakashi, what are you doing?"

"Maaa, what?" He dragged his fingers backwards through his hair.

"What is that?" Iruka's gaze dropped to the counter behind the other man.

"Oh, it's…"

"Kakashi! Are those the kunai that Izumo and Kotetsu gave me?!" Iruka's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Kakashi remembered just how dangerous and volatile the other man's temper could be. "You, you… How could you! You thoughtless, uncaring, un…"

Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut and flinched under every word, waiting for it to be over. When Iruka trailed off in the middle of his next word, Kakashi slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see Iruka's lips pressed into a thin line of barely suppressed rage.

But the chuunin had his hand over his face, and his shoulders were shaking.

"I…uh…"

His hand dropped from his face, and Iruka clutched at his stomach, dissolving into helpless gales of laughter. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist…" He gasped and had to grab hold of counter to keep from falling to the ground.

"It's not that funny." Kakashi pouted.

Iruka picked up one of the metal cookie sheets that was sitting in the sink and held it towards him, tilting it so that Kakashi could see his reflection.

His hair was touched with neon-bright rainbow highlights.

"What the…?!"

"They were a gag gift." Iruka giggled. "Anyone who touches them gets dye on their hands. Why do you think I had them double wrapped in a canvas bag in the very back corner of my closet?"

"Why you!" Kakashi leapt over the island in the center of the kitchen and chased Iruka down the hall.

Kakashi landed lightly on the grass outside the window of Iruka's classroom early the next morning.

"Iruka-sensei?" One of the girls in the front class waved her hand back and forth. "Why is your hair multi-colored?"

OOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	5. Seeking Solace

Each room he passed through was cold and deserted; the bed empty, but made, the kitchen dark and lifeless, but still neat.

He supposed he should have noticed the absolute lack of familiar chakra that should have tinted the whole apartment, but he was just too tired to put the information together.

After one more lap through the connected rooms, he braced his back against the wall and slid slowly to the floor, cradling his bleeding, and probably broken, arm against his chest.

The injuries were relatively minor compared to some that he had suffered in the past, and if it had been several years ago, he would have wrapped a temporary bandage around the injury and requested another mission.

But this wasn't the past.

So he tilted his head back against the wall and wondered where his touchstone could possibly be.

He knew he shouldn't move.

He knew he shouldn't expend any more chakra.

But he didn't want to be alone.

A faint trickle of chakra left his hand, spreading out in an almost imperceptible net through the streets of Konoha, until it settled around the narrow wrist of the one person he wanted to see.

Kakashi hauled himself to his feet and staggered slowly in the direction of the Academy.

He slumped against the windowsill, resting his head on the cool glass.

Iruka was shoving the desks up against the wall in his classroom. He vaguely remembered his touchstone saying something about a training session with his class that involved working on chakra control – Kakashi couldn't quite remember all of the details. He wedged his fingers under the window frame and slid it open. Iruka jumped and whirled into a crouch before straightening.

"Kakashi? You're back!"

"Yeah." Iruka slipped an arm under his shoulder and eased them both down to the wide-open floor, backs resting against Iruka's desk.

Kakashi rested his head against the other man's shoulder as Iruka pulled the injured arm into his lap and started to heal it. "It's good to be home."

He felt Iruka smile into his hair, and the chuunin wrapped both arms around his waist, pulling him close. They stayed that way for several minutes, enjoying the silence.

Iruka broke it in the end, "Ne, Kakashi, do you mind if we move? My butt's going to sleep."


	6. Break Away

"Let go…" Iruka squirmed around, trying to get free.

"Maa… You can be late."

"We're talking about my class, not your students. They're not just going to hang around and wait for me to show up; they're not used to me being late."

"I could give you a good excuse."

"What, that all the books in the bookstore got infected with a virus that makes them sentient, and they're out eating people's brains?" Iruka managed to loosen the grip enough that he could prop himself up on his elbow.

"Oh, please, give me some credit. It would be way more plausible than that." Kakashi knocked Iruka's elbow out from under him, grinning as the other man fell back onto the mattress.

Iruka rolled his eyes, "I'm not kidding. I need to go. If I leave now, I might be able to make it before they blow the classroom up."

He was almost in time. At least two of the desks were skewered with kunai and overturned. His desk, thankfully, was still intact.

"Oi! Seats, now!" The kids scrambled into their seats, trying hard, and failing, to look angelic.

As he turned towards the board, the scene outside the window caught Iruka's attention. The sky was bright blue and absolutely clear. No one wanted to be caught inside on a day like this.

_He is such a bad influence_. Iruka pulled open one of the desk drawers, making a show of searching for something. The three smoke pellets fit easily into his hand.

It took very little chakra to snap the window, and he smacked the pellets to the ground right after it shattered, teleporting away in the smoke and the confusion.

"Hey."

Kakashi was sprawled across the sun-heated tiles on the roof of his apartment complex, "I thought you _had_ to be at work today."

Iruka stretched out next to him, "Shut up."

OOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	7. Heaven

When he thought back on it, he could count on one hand the number of times in his life that he had woken up in his own bed.

As an ANBU, he was more likely to be taken to the hospital when he returned to the village than anywhere else. And more often than not, he was given another mission the minute he was cleared by the medics.

On the rare occasion that he wasn't injured, he collapsed on the worn couch that took up most of his living room.

The poor couch was looking a little worse for the wear after all the years of him bleeding on it.

But the couch had still become his standard accommodation whenever he was home – usually because he was just too tired or, more recently, too lazy to make his way down the hall to his bedroom.

He supposed it should have been ironic that even now, when he had left ANBU far behind and had settled down into something that vaguely resembled a normal life – at least for a shinobi – he still wasn't waking up in his own bed.

The form next to him stretched and rolled over to face him, putting his back to the sun-filled window and burying his head deeper into the pillow. He reached out and brushed the dark hair away from the other man's eyes.

But on the other hand, not waking up in his own bed wasn't really all that bad.

The door in the other room slammed open rattling everything hanging on the wall between there and the bedroom.

"Iruka-senseiiiiiii…..!" Naruto's voice echoed down towards them.

Then again, maybe his bed would be a better choice.

OOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	8. Innocence

Kakashi snarled irritably under his mask as he stalked down the hall. He still wasn't entirely sure how the bastard had gotten away with it – he had trapped all of his windows, hadn't he? But he was certainly going to give him a piece of his mind.

The wrapping on every single one of his kunai had been stripped away during the night to be replaced with neon pink, fuzzy bindings.

And he hadn't checked yet, but he was fairly certain that they glowed in the dark.

To add insult to injury, he hadn't discovered the swap until he'd been ambushed by a vision in green spandex who'd dropped down in front of him on his way to meet his team, struck a glorious and youthful pose, and challenged him to a kunai throwing contest.

Even Gai didn't think that Kakashi's new version of his weapons was hip or cool, and that had to be a first.

He threw the door open to the mission room, shoving several very confused chuunin and one jounin who he was pretty sure was one of his fellow ANBU members out of his way as he approached the desk.

The dark-haired chuunin behind the desk rubbed his hand across his forehead with a long-suffering sigh. "Kakashi-san. There were several other shinobi waiting ahead of you. If you would please return to the end of the line, I'll be happy to help you when you get back to the front."

Kakashi whipped one of the brightly decorated kunai out of his weapon pouch and slammed it into the table.

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the offending weapon, which had pierced one of the reports that had just been handed in before raising his eyes back up to meet Kakashi's. "It's…pink. Interesting color choice, Kakashi-san."

"Don't play coy; I know it was you!" Kakashi usually took good-natured teasing in stride, but being embarrassed in front of Gai was the last straw – he did have a reputation to keep up, after all.

"You think I changed the wrappings on your kunai?" Iruka grabbed the hilt and pulled the kunai out of table, running his fingers over the gash in the wood and studying the tear in the report. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"You did it to get me back for hiding all those condoms in your stuff!"

"WHAT?!" Iruka leapt to his feet. "That was you?!?" The chuunin leaned over the table and brandished the newly-freed kunai at a very surprised looking jounin.

"Maaa…." Kakashi backed up, elbowing his way through the shinobi crowded around him, "I'll just, uh, come back later, when I've got my mission report done."

"That's a very good idea." Iruka aimed the pointy end of the weapon at him.

Iruka sat back down as he beat a hasty retreat and set the kunai down beside his elbow.

But just as Kakashi slipped through the door, he saw Iruka's eyes dart down to the kunai.

And a dark smile flitted across his face for the briefest of moments.

Genma grinned broadly around the senbon stuck between his teeth. "You totally switched his kunai, didn't you."

Iruka's gaze slid to the side to rest on him, and a superior smile graced his lips. "I don't know what you're talking about."

OOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	9. Drive

Dear god, this is a total crack fic…first one I've ever written...I don't know what possessed me…. Sorry, sorry!

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hey, beautiful." Genma leered across the table at him as he slapped his mission report down.

Iruka glared up at him, drumming his fingers on the solid wood and preparing to give the special jounin a piece of his mind. He dropped his gaze for a second to gather his thoughts so that he could formulate a particularly scathing rebuke.

The sound of Genma's senbon hitting the floor snapped his head up.

Kakashi had appeared in the space between Genma and the desk and was currently holding the other man up by the front of his vest and was growling in his face.

Luckily a voice over the PA system forestalled the bloodshed that was imminently approaching. "There's food in the conference room on the second floor."

Fight or not, a whole group of relatively poor shinobi were not likely to pass up any sort of free food.

"This is bullshit." Genma's eyes strayed down to the end of the hall, which was blocked by Shizune and a couple of ANBU, and then to the other, which ended in a door that was not nearly foreboding enough to merit the shiver that was running down his back. "Free food, my ass. If they were just gonna give us immunizations, they shouldn'ta taunted us by lying to us…"

"If they told us it was shots, no one would have shown up." Iruka was leaning against the wall between Kakashi and Genma, looking very uncomfortable.

Genma resumed the game of leering at him.

Kakashi had his nose buried in Icha Icha.

The special jounin eyed Kakashi for a few minutes before making an over-elaborate stretch and not-so-subtly dropping his arm around Iruka's shoulder.

Iruka twisted to look first at the hand on his shoulder and then over at Genma, "A-a-ano…Waaaa!"

Genma tugged hard and tackled them both to the floor. He landed straddling the chuunin's waist and managed to pin the other man's hands to the floor above his head. He wrenched his head around to look back at Kakashi. "Ha! Take that! Who's on top his now, huh? What do you have to say to that?!"

One of Genma's eyes twitched when Kakashi just calmly turned a page in his book. "You lost your place in line."

A very dark look descended over Genma's face. "Well, if you've got no complaints."

A very faint 'eep' issued from Iruka's mouth as he was flipped over onto his stomach and dragged backwards towards the door. "Nooooooooooo! Do…Not…Want…" His fingers dug into the wood floor, scrambling for purchase. Kakashi!!!"

Several minutes later, Kakashi reached the end of the chapter and closed the book with a satisfied sigh. "Ne, Iruka?" He turned towards his attention towards his lover, or at least to the empty hole in the air where his lover had been. "Wha…?"

"Genma dragged him off. " Anko had been waiting on the other side of Genma and was currently snickering darkly.

"RAWR!!!" Kakashi vaulted past her, racing off to save his hapless boyfriend.

OOOOOOOOO

Yeesh, I don't know what's wrong with my brain


	10. Breathe Again

He loved him.

He really did.

At least he kept telling himself that.

The bed they had was easily big enough to fit both of them and Bull, which it did occasionally.

Bull, however, was not around right now.

None of the dogs were around.

It was just them.

And the sheets.

And the enormous bed.

So why the hell did Iruka insist on sleeping on top of him?

It couldn't even be classified as over-zealous cuddling.

It wasn't like the chuunin had simply put his leg over Kakashi's waist.

That would have been fine.

Or sprawled his shoulders across Kakashi's chest.

That would have been fine too, damnit!

But no, the other man was quite literally sleeping on top of him.

Literally!

And to make matters worse, Iruka was a fucking furnace.

And he refused to budge.

No matter how many times Kakashi shoved at him.

Or groped him.

OOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	11. Memory

Something was different.

He just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

But just as the realization came within his grasp, his stomach gave a particularly violent twist.

Somehow it was harder to think with his head hanging over the toilet.

Praying to the porcelain god had to be one of his least favorite activities.

Why on earth had he let Genma talk him into drinking last night?

He retched again, grasping the edge of the bowl.

He was fairly certain he hadn't passed out, but he didn't remember much after three glasses of jungle juice.

Where the hell were the towels?

He pawed at the wall where his towels should have been, but the rack wasn't anywhere to be seen.

He pushed away from the floor and staggered down the hall, wondering who had made off with his carpet when he wasn't looking.

Those sheets weren't his.

The lump under the sheets-that-weren't-his was also different.

What did he do last night?

The sheets slid slowly off the bed as the other person sat up.

He froze in the doorway.

"What are you doing in my house? And...why are you naked?"

There was a slight pause as the sheets finished their lengthy trip to the floor.

"And why am I naked?"

OOOOOOOOOO

I'm back! Hope you enjoy!

And I'm leaving it up to you guys as to who is who in this story ^^ Feel free to guess who I intended to be who.


	12. Insanity

Too bright.

The room was simply just too bright.

He pried his left arm out from where it was pinned under his stomach and waved his hand in the general direction of the blinds.

Except his hand dropped onto a large expanse of sheets and mattress.

What?

He always slept on the left side of the bed.

Always!

His pillow was on the left side of the bed.

The pillow on the other side was mostly just for show as it was a lumpy, horrible insult to the pillow name.

And, judging from the crick in his neck, he'd slept on it all night.

_I'm loosing my mind._

No.

There was a logical explanation for this.

He was certain of it.

He must have piled something on the side of the bed after coming home from the party last night and been too tired to move it.

Speaking of the party….

Why couldn't he remember anything after the poker game?

Had it turned into a strip poker game?

He groaned and pulled himself upwards.

Someone was standing in his doorway.

A naked someone was standing in his doorway.

What the hell happened last night?

"What are you doing in my house? And…and why are you naked?"

A sudden breeze around the lower region of his anatomy drew his attention downward.

"And why am I naked?"

OOOOOOOO

Psuedo request from Kiterie for the other side of 11. Memory. Again, who's who in these two stories is up to the reader - I know who I have in mind, but it's not at all set in stone and can be read either way.

Thanks for reading!


	13. Misfortune

"Has anyone seen him?"

"I checked his room about an hour ago, and he was drugged and asleep!"

The village was drenched in rain, but the storm had stopped before he'd woken up. His legs had given out several minutes before, and he was kneeling in mud with his hands planted between his knees in order to keep from sprawling completely out on the ground.

The back of his shirt was wet from the blood slowly seeping through the bandage. He knew that he should return to the hospital to get patched up again, but he just couldn't bring himself to stand up.

"Mom….Dad…" He hugged his arms tightly around his body and gasped in pain as his motions pulled at the partially healed wound. "I can't do anything right…."

Raindrops slipped slowly from the leaves around him as he rubbed the back of his hand against his eyes, trying to stem the flow of tears.

"I should have realized what Mizuki was like…. I should have realized what Naruto needed…. I…. I…."

The monument in front of him blurred, and he wiped at his eyes to clear them, but nothing changed. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed into the mud.

"Uh…." He opened his eyes slowly, recognizing the white patterned ceiling of the hospital.

"Iruka?!"

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei?" He turned his head carefully, but the room still swam. "Ah!"

The silver-haired jounin snagged his wrist and crushed him to his chest. "…died…."

"What?"

"You could have died!" Kakashi griped the chuunin's shoulders tightly, blue eye piercing Iruka's gaze.

All of the emotions burning in Iruka's chest coalesced into a raging ball. "So?!" He snapped at the jounin, still wondering what the enigmatic man was doing at his bedside. "I couldn't help my parents! I couldn't take down Mizuki when he was after Naruto! I couldn't even stop his attack! What kind of chuunin has to step in way of a shuriken instead of diverting it or moving the poor kid it's aimed at or replacing the kid? No chuunin should have to be saved by a pre-genin because he can't even manage to hit another chuunin who's not using any special attacks!" Iruka's eyes narrowed in anger. "So why the hell should you care what I do with my life?!"

He panted at the end of his outburst, and then dropped his eyes to the sheets where he'd fisted his hand into the fabric. He'd said much more than he'd intended to, particularly to this person – all of his self-doubt and pain spilling out in a few short sentences.

"You saved me."

"What?" His head snapped up and around to stare at the jounin.

"You…at the academy." The jounin rubbed his hand across the back of his hair, ruffling the strands subconsciously. "It was a long time ago, after Obito died."

Iruka's eyes widened. He knew the name, but had never heard it spoken allowed and certainly not in Kakashi's presence. He didn't know the whole story, only the rumors that were whispered between kunoichi after the jounin passed by.

"I was in ANBU."

He also hadn't known that. "That was you?"

"I quit right after that." Kakashi was staring at the ground. "The shinobi they sent on what was supposed to be my next mission was stronger and more experienced than me. He never came home." He raised his gaze and met Iruka's eyes directly. "I would not be here if it wasn't for you."

"B-but…. I…. I didn't do anything. I just…." Iruka trailed off, remembering the ANBU collapsed on the floor of the Academy entrance hall. He'd knelt down beside the shaking form and gently pressed his hand against the other boy's shoulder. Nothing more.

_I would not be here if it wasn't for you._

Was it possible?

Had he actually managed to do something, anything, right with his life?

Pale fingers encased in a metal-backed glove laced through his as the blanket fell from a nerveless grip. "I need you."

OOOOOOOOO

OOC? I think this is a reasonable twist on Kakashi's character - there's not guarantee that he would have died, but it's how his brain processes it. But I'd love to get feedback on that (I had huge problems writing this and keeping it kind of in character)

Thanks for reading!


	14. Smile

He gnawed irritably on the inside of his lower lip; he didn't like secrets. Well, to be specific, he didn't like secrets that he wasn't let in on. The whole hush-hush mentality drove him up the walls.

Unless, of course, he was the one guarding the information.

He pressed himself back against the rough wall. The columns that jutted out away from the surface were just big enough that, if he sucked in his stomach and held his vest back, he was mostly hidden.

The dark cloth of Kakashi's mask stretched as the jounin smiled down at Naruto and Sakura, who were currently arguing about the merits of having Sasuke on their team. The subject of their discussion trailed behind them and was currently glaring at the ground as he walked.

But Iruka's attention was firmly focused on their silver-haired sensei. Between the angled hitai-ate and the dark fabric, the majority of the jounin's face remained a mystery.

As if Kakashi was trying to keep it a secret.

It was driving him crazy.

"Is something bothering you, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka spun around, fighting down the urge to drop into a defensive crouch. He knew that voice, but couldn't figure out when Kakashi had left his team. "Na…Naruto-kun. I just wanted to make sure that he's doing okay." _Nice save._

"Really." The jounin braced an arm over Iruka's head as the chuunin leaned backwards and slid partially down the wall in order to put some more room between himself and the other man. "That's all?"

Iruka bristled. "Is there something wrong with that, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Maa, only if you're not telling the truth."

"I don't lie. Now if you'll excuse me." He pushed against Kakashi's arm and then glared at jounin when he didn't move. As if to make the point even clearer, Kakashi planted his hand on the other side of Iruka's head. "Kakashi-sensei." Iruka growled darkly.

"You've been following us for a couple of days now. Checking up on him shouldn't take that long. Besides, Naruto talks to you all the time. You'd already know if something was wrong with him."

Iruka snapped his mouth shut and fumed silently at the older man.

"If you're still going to insist on coming up with an excuse, you're going to have to think of a better one." The jounin's eye closed as he grinned down at Iruka.

The chuunin had a feeling that the other man was teasing him, but it was impossible to tell since the goddamn mask covered so much of the other man's face.

Iruka ground his teeth before finally deciding that, since he was already here, he might as well go all the way. "Take off your mask."

Kakashi pulled back, surprise etching across his face, and Iruka dropped his gaze away from the piercing blue stare. He was instantly sorry for prying into the jounin's privacy. Kakashi looked like he was expecting something different from what Iruka'd said.

A soft chuckle pulled his attention back to the man who still had him pinned against the wall. "Is that all?"

Iruka gaped at Kakashi as the jounin eased his mask off.

"So…" The pale lips twitched into a slight smile. "What about me?"

"Eh?"

"I did what you wanted. Now you should do something for me."

Iruka couldn't seem to drag his eyes away from the exposed lower half of Kakashi's face. "Ano…I…uh…"

Kakashi cupped his hand under Iruka's chin and tilted the chuunin's head backwards. Iruka's heartbeat pulsed rapidly under his fingers as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against those of the other man.

Iruka pushed back farther against the wall, but Kakashi just leaned closer. The jounin pushed a knee in between his legs as he nipped down the other man's neck, and Iruka had to stifle a groan. Long fingers tugged incessantly at the hem of his shirt until it came free. Kakashi chuckled into the chuunin's shoulder when Iruka arched and gasped at the feather-light touches along his torso.

"Wha…aahh!" Iruka sat bolt upright in bed, tossing the sheets back and cursing under his breath. The dream had been far too realistic, as evidenced by the throbbing hardness between his legs. This curiosity about Kakashi's mask had gotten completely out of control.

OOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	15. Silence

Woohoo, the themes are back! Enjoy!

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Iruka unfolded carefully from his cross-legged seat on the floor by his coffee table, flopped down on the floor, stretched from fingertips to toes and let out a happy groan. He'd finished grading homework easily three hours earlier than usual – mostly because he hadn't put it off when he got home – and he was looking forward to crawling into bed and burying his face in his book, which was marked at five pages in and was covered in a fine patina of dust since he hadn't touched it in several weeks.

He hadn't noticed that he'd closed his eyes until one of his floorboards let out a soft creaking noise. He sat up sharply, resting his forearm on his raised knee as he twisted around to the scan the room.

He was alone.

The apartment complex was fairly old – an amazing fact in itself given how many times the village had been destroyed in its short history – and was almost always making noises as the ancient wood settled under its own weight.

He let himself drop back to the floor, only to bolt upwards again at a repeat of the same sound.

The creaks accelerated suddenly, even though he still didn't see anyone in the room.

"Ah, holy shit!" He yelped as he was tackled.

"Miss me?" Kakashi's mask was pooled around his neck as he leered down at the chuunin.

"Where the hell did you come from?!"

"Maa, that?" Kakashi shrugged broadly. "It's a chameleon jutsu; learned it a long time ago."

"Really?" Iruka's voice had a barely concealed bite. He had the sneaking suspicion that his book was going to keep gathering dust.

Not to mention that he was probably going to have a bruise on the back of his head from smacking it on the floor when Kakashi'd jumped him. "Can you get off me?"

The jounin froze, looked slowly down at where he was straddling Iruka's waist, returned his gaze up to the other man's face and _pouted._

"Oh, don't you dare!"

"But I just got back from a mission. You're supposed to take care of me."

"You just got back from running down to the grocery store for milk!"

"I don't know." Kakashi tilted his head to one side, his lips pulling up into a truly sinister smile. Iruka wondered if anyone else in the village realized the truly vast range of Kakashi's expressions. "If you're not going to do your job as my touchstone, I might just have to inform Tsunade. She'll assign you to the graveyard shift at the mission desk."

All the ANBU and seeder members of the Konoha shinobi turned in their reports during the graveyard shift. The last time Genma had to work it, he'd lost track of both how many times his ass had been pinched and how many kunai had come close to taking his nose off from the over-wound ANBU.

Of course, the ass grabbing had been done by the ANBU as well, which just made the whole thing creepier.

Iruka worked hard not to piss off the hokage just to keep off that shift.

"That's low, Hatake."

"So, you're going to take care of me?"

The chuunin's eyes flashed. "Well, if you just came back from a mission, you much be exhausted. Probably chakra-depleted too. Hmmm…" He rolled his eyes skyward, making a big show of his thought process. "You'll need to rest, and I'll have to make some broth to help you rebuild your chakra."

Kakashi sat back, his face falling at the thought, and Iruka took the opportunity to slide free and pull the resisting jounin to his feet.

He wondered how on earth this had backfired so badly.

OOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!


	16. Questioning

Kakashi grinned as he pushed the window open with a smooth, easy movement. The first four or five times he'd done this, he'd had to pick the window latch.

Apparently, Iruka'd finally given up on trying to keep him out and had just resigned himself to the jounin's unpredicatable and unexpected presence. Or the unlocked window was an open invitation. Either way, Kakashi was just grateful that he didn't have to work any harder at the end of the mission.

Iruka was seated crossed-legged on the couch with a bowl balanced on one knee. Kakashi smiled broadly when he caught sight of the screen on the far wall. The movie playing had been well-watched in this particular household – Kakashi wasn't sure exactly how much, only that the chuunin could easily quote along without actually paying any attention to the movie.

A sheet of paper was draped over his other knee, and he was making notes on it every few minutes. Kakashi figured it was probably a lesson plan; after several years, Iruka had his lesson plans pretty much set, but he still made minor adjustments based on the class.

For some reason, he'd put off the lesson on making your own exploding tags when he was teaching Konohamaru and his pals and had buried the lesson plan in the bottom of his drawer so that he didn't even have to think about it.

As Kakashi drew even with the back of the couch, he could finally see what was in the bowl, though he wasn't entirely sure what it was, specifically. Something vaguely orange and mushy.

"What _are _you eating?"

Iruka whipped around – chuunin intuition, no matter how sharply it was tuned by dealing with young hellions, was no match for a jounin who was trying to be sneaky – and swallowed the bite of food he'd stuffed into his mouth right before Kakashi'd spoken. "Um, instant cheddar mashed potatoes and yogurt?"

"For dinner?"

The other man had the decency to look sheepish. "I just don't feel like really cooking for myself."

Kakashi just shook his head in disbelief and settled down on the couch next to Iruka, chuckling softly at an overly-repeated joke in the movie that still managed to be funny after all these times.

Iruka scooped up another forkful of the mashed potatoes, tipped it sideways, and watched the globs plop back into the goop in the bottom of the bowl. "I'm really glad you're home…."

OOOOOOO

The sad thing is that this is what I actually had for dinner tonight...

Thanks for reading!


	17. Blood

OOOOOOOOOOO

The hands of the clock hanging high on the wall crept incessantly towards midnight as Iruka pillowed his head on his arms. The frequency and number of missions had risen drastically in the past month, and the hokage had responded by manning the mission desk at all hours. The shinobi were required a minimum of 12 hours rest following a C or B mission, 48 for an A, and 6 for a D. The sooner they were able to turn in their paperwork, the sooner she could deploy them again.

Most shinobi returned at normal hours.

Most shinobi had a family, a desire for a home-cooked meal, and a preference for sleeping while the sun was still below the horizon.

Iruka was here for the section of the populace that didn't fall into those normal rules, but it meant that he would see only a couple of people in the space of the nighttime hours. And it was too late in the night for him to concentrate on grading papers – he was likely to make more mistakes than his students.

A soft cough made him start. "Sorry to wake you, Iruka-sensei."

As he jerked his head upward, his gaze swung across the room and fell on the clock. He'd been asleep for almost an hour. "Ah, sorry… Kakashi-sensei." He finished, suddenly keenly aware of the jounin's presence and wondering vaguely if the comment had been a back-handed insult. He'd avoided the other man like the plague after the incident at the chuunin exam, but was still under the distinct impression that the other man didn't think much of him. And the crumpled mission report tossed unceremoniously onto his still-folded arms did little to disabuse him of that notion.

He rolled his eyes at Kakashi's retreating back - honestly, he'd had a legitimate concern. The jounin may have been right, but he didn't have to be such an ass about it, either that time or now – and smoothed the pages out under the palm of his hand.

A dark smear appeared on the paper following the path of his hand, and he yanked away from the sheet, staring at the deep red liquid pooling in his palm.

Blood?

And fresh at that. Certainly not left over from any enemies Kakashi might have dispatched. Iruka pushed to his feet, almost knocking his chair over in the process, and sprinted from the room. "Kakashi-sensei!"

The jounin half-turned and cast an uninterested look over his shoulder as Iruka skidded into the hallway.

Iruka swallowed hard and set his shoulders. No matter what his personal feelings, Naruto had come to like and even respect his jounin-sensei, so Iruka knew he probably wouldn't be forgiven if he let the other man bleed to death. "You're injured."

"Nothing serious." The words were dangerously clipped.

"You expect me to believe that, given how much you bled all over your report?"

"I'm not going to the hospital."

Iruka heaved a tired sigh and started towards the jounin, his hands spread wide to indicate no ill intent. That last phrase made Kakashi sound like a sulky kid, and Iruka'd had more than enough of dealing with them during the day. "Then at least let me patch you up so you don't die on the way home." He stopped when he drew even with the other man and noted the spreading dark blotch on Kakashi's upper arm. "Please sit down."

One of Kakashi's eyebrows arched upwards, and he didn't budge.

"Sit down!" Iruka snapped, and Kakashi dropped instantly onto the padded bench mounted into the wall. The chuunin winced. He'd put a fair bit more chakra behind that command than he'd intended, but even so, he still shouldn't have had any control over the jounin even if he'd thrown all of his chakra behind it.

He shoved the strangeness away, reached for Kakashi's arm and stopped.

"What? After all of this, you're getting cold feet?" The barely-disguised leering in the jounin's voice taunted him.

"It's impossible to patch this up with your shirt on." Iruka spoke slowly, as if he was explaining to a two-year-old. Apparently that tone annoyed Kakashi sufficiently that he didn't feel the need to make any comments about Iruka trying to get his shirt off.

But he couldn't quite keep the gasp from passing his lips as the removal of the long-sleeved shirt revealed layers of scars marring the narrow, pale frame.

"What?" Kakashi snarled. "No battle scars on that chuunin body of yours?"

"I'm sorry." He breathed out a barely audible apology.

"Are you apologizing for the scars? Or for the reaction?" The pitch of his voice clearly stated that neither would be the right reaction.

"I'm sorry that you didn't have anyone to take care of those wounds." Iruka stretched his fingers out and almost brushed one of the larger ones that clearly hadn't been very deep but had scarred badly, but pulled back before he actually made contact.

Kakashi started when Iruka's hands closed gently around his elbow. The chuunin pulled his arm away from his body and slowly wiped the crusted blood away from the edges. Iruka worked quickly and meticulously to bind the wound. Kakashi didn't even notice he'd finished until the other man twisted his arm so that it was palm up and extended straight out in front of him.

Iruka muttered an apology as Kakashi winced when he dug his thumbs into the flesh and muscle on either side of the gash. "Sorry. I know it hurts but this will help. It keeps the blood flowing through the damaged tissue and makes it heal better and retain its original color. And it should…"

Kakashi let out a surprised groan at the next pass of his fingers.

"…feel better soon." Iruka smiled softly at him, and Kakashi dropped his head back against the wall and leaned into the massage.

"Should I even ask?" The darkly amused voice brought both of their attentions away from each other. Tsunade leaned languidly against the wall one eyebrow raised at the chuunin kneeling between the shirtless jounin's legs. "Nah, you boys just have fun!"

Iruka was flushed scarlet across his entire face, mouth hanging open as he watched the hokage saunter past them and around of the corner. Kakashi dropped his head back against the wall chuckling, and Iruka slowly joined in, sitting back on his haunches and resting his forehead on the jounin's knee.

"We must look so ridiculous." Iruka muttered into the dark fabric.

"Move your head up a bit, and it'll be even more awkward. Hey!" Kakashi yelped as Iruka punched his thigh. "Weren't you the one trying to heal me a minute ago?"

"Fine." Iruka snapped, pushing to his feet and stepping away from the other man. "You're patched up anyway, and I should get back to work."

"Can I come back next time?"

Iruka froze in the doorway. This person…. This person who he was sure thought so little of him…. So few people were willing to trust him like that, and if he could manage to keep the jounin alive for a little longer…. "Well, I guess it would be a hassle for Naruto to break in a new teacher. And lord knows Tsunade-sama would make me clean up if you bled on anything in the building. So, it seems like it's my only option."

The dark mask stretched as Kakashi smiled, and Iruka found himself smiling back.

OOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading!!


	18. Rainbow

Theme: Rainbow

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Any casual observer wandering by might think that his dresser had decided to throw up on the floor, and Iruka dropped his head onto the corner of the drawer he currently had in his lap. Even though he knew that he was making things better, the fact that he had to basically destroy his bedroom in the process still bothered him.

But he had to find some room to put away the pile of clothes that was slowly overtaking all of his free space.

"What is that?" Iruka wrestled with the drawer until he managed to pull it off the rails and completely out of the dresser. Something white was jammed into a crack in the very back corner of the drawer.

He held up the white t-shirt and almost instantly started to chuckle. He hadn't thought about the outfit he used to wear as a genin in years. The shirt seemed ludicrously small, and he couldn't help but hold it up to his chest.

Iruka figured he might be able to fit an arm into it now…if that.

The clock above his head chimed, and he groaned. He should have been at the mission desk fifteen minutes ago, but he was loathe to leave the room in this disastrous state.

He dropped the shirt on the kitchen table on his way out.

He still remembered the first time he wore the monotone shirt – his mom had let him pick out clothes before heading to school, and he'd come down in that white shirt and a pair of matching shorts. His mom always wore bright colors, even if it was in the form of a neon scarf wrapped around her throat under the standard vest. Consequently, she'd bought a variety of colors for him and was thoroughly scandalized when he decided to dress only in white.

He'd never really been able to figure out why he'd preferred pallid clothing – perhaps he'd thought that the vivid tones were solely part of his mother's domain – but after her death he'd packed all of the colorful clothing, bedding and decorations into storage, unwilling to be reminded of what had been taken from him.

The first addition of color to his outfit was the blue hitae-ate he'd received on graduation from the Academy.

He'd finally ditched the white outfit on his fifth try taking the chuunin exam. It had seemed strange to fill his closet with completely different clothes. He'd been practically broke at that point, without any regular missions and no extra job, and buying just the generic vests and unadorned shirts had wiped out any of his petty cash, so the Konoha patches for the sleeves had to wait.

Against the black background of his shirts and pants, the green vest was the brightest color in his closet.

Iruka'd passed the teacher's exam by the skin of his teeth, and only because of Mizuki's help. He was sure that the committee must have known about how much aid he'd gotten from his fellow chuunin, and he'd confronted the Sandaime, demanding to know why he passed when even he didn't think he deserved to.

The old man had tilted his red hat down over his face while puffing away on his pipe, and had told him that he was going to do his job that he'd been assigned and if, in five years, he still didn't understand why he'd gotten it, he could come back and ask again.

He didn't sleep for two days before his first class and had almost collapsed on his way home after the first day simply from pure exhaustion. As it was, he'd still fallen flat on his face after tripping over absolutely nothing. Two heeled shoes planted themselves in the dirt in front of him, and a kunoichi with purple hair put her hands on her hips and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he looked like he needed a drink.

Mitarashi Anko then proceeded to drag him to the nearest bar and get him drunk out of his mind.

The second day of school had been infinitely worse.

Over the years, he'd managed to convince Anko to not get him drunk on a weeknight, but she'd still always been there to listen to him rant about the general all-around stupidity of his students.

He must have bitched about Naruto more than anyone else – mainly because he didn't think the boy ever tried to live up to his potential while he was in school – and Anko'd just smiled the whole time, clearly aware of the fact that Iruka saw himself in the boy and wanted Naruto to make more of himself than he ever had.

The first time he met the kyuubi boy, Naruto was so short that he couldn't even see over Iruka's desk, and he was treated to a shock of spiky yellow hair telling him to get bent and that there was absolutely nothing 'Iruka-_sensei_' could teach him.

Iruka sighed and hefted the groceries higher on his hip. Despite the brief scolding he'd gotten for being late, his stint at the mission desk was completely uneventful, and he was looking forward to getting back to cleaning out his dresser.

He kneed the door open and started to drop the bags onto the table next to his childhood shirt, only to stop short.

Iruka glared at the blatant evidence of the most recent addition to his life, a bright orange porn book oh-so-casually placed on top of his pristine, childhood shirt.

"Kakashi!"

OOOOOOOOOOO

I am soooo ludicrously happy with this. I've been trying to come up with an idea for weeks for this theme, and finally it occurred to me while driving home from dance today.

Hope you enjoy!


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